« Back Toshiba Youth Club Asia Reaches its Culmination

As they took to the stage on Sunday morning, the members of the four Toshiba Youth Club Asia teams had every reason to be nervous. After a week of information overload and a day of preparation, they now had to deliver final presentations that, in only 15 minutes or so, set out at least some of what they had absorbed in a week of events, visits, lectures and conversation.

And on top of that, their audience wasn’t just the people they knew from the camp. There was the chairman of Toshiba, Mr. Masashi Muromachi; representatives of two Japanese government ministries; the former Japanese ambassador to India, Bhutan and China; officers from the Cambodian, Philippine and Thai embassies in Japan; plus a representative of the Japan Foundation and the heads of four alumni associations linking Japan and Asia. The list went on. Enough important people to make even the bravest high school student anxious.

Fortunately, the students sailed through this final test and came out smiling.

TYCA was designed to inform, stimulate, entertain and challenge. It was a winner on all counts. From March 23 to 27, the student participants went from activity to event, and then on to the next item of the agenda. They recorded their impressions and responses in a daily journal, and still had energy for evenings spent getting to know one another and sharing stories.

Through it all they were helped by BeGood Cafe, the NPO supporting the camp’s organization and logistics, and by guest speakers. Perhaps the most important of them was Dr. Naoki Ishibashi, professor of IT at Tokyo’s Komazawa University. He was with the group on nearly every day of the camp, and his lectures included a history of technology and its results and an introduction to how IT can help solve problems. He was also there on Day 6 of the program, Understanding in Depth Day, a time for pulling together all the different strands of the camp and weaving them into group presentation. Needless to say, that took longer than anybody expected, and the teams were still at it at midnight.

Sunday morning was no day of rest at TYCA. Guests assembled, papers were shuffled, scripts consulted, nerves pushed away, and then it was time for the presentations. All the groups spoke to the same theme. “What Kind of Future Cooperation Among Asian Countries is Possible?”

Group T saw friendship as the way forward, and suggested that shared values in respect of nature, religion and culture provided a basis for future cooperation and agreement. They looked to a united Asia, sustained by a network of sub-groups, and with workshops to carry the message throughout society.

Group Y proposed education as a solution, in the form of an Asian standard for education that advanced cooperation, integration and use of knowledge. It would have basic and advanced levels, and promote international interactions to graduation and beyond. The team also saw Japanese technology as having a lot to offer.

For Group C, the key to cooperation was the environment: in preventing and solving environmental problems and not repeating mistakes made in developed countries. Mechanisms proposed included exchanges of ideas, especially on pollution, with Japan sharing its experience and technologies. Individuals should work together and strive to lead.

Group A went back to education and linked it to employment. The basic idea was to ensure provision of education so as to raise quality, train professionals, and to end a mismatch of people and jobs. The way forward lay in sharing: of experience and information; through social networks and school programs, and a better labor balance.

All in all, a lot interesting, insightful ideas and proposals and food for thought, and a warm response from the audience.

With the pressure off them, the camp participants could finally kick back and relax. In the afternoon, they headed out into Tokyo: the boys went off to see Shinjuku and a big 100-yen store before making their way to Shinjuku Gyoen, a picturesque park; some of the girls made straight for Shinjuku Gyoen, for a cherry-tree viewing party with Japanese sweets; another group of girls made a beeline for Shinjuku’s department stores. In the evening, they all got together for a final party, and a last night together before heading home.

Everybody involved in TYCA, students, advisors, staff and guests, voted it a big success. TIFO and Toshiba are delighted to be involved in the camp, and look forward to TYCA 2, this December.

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2024